


Between a Soul and a Hard Place

by chiaki_nanami



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Chara has Frisk's Soul, Chara has seen some shit, Chara inhabits Frisk's body, Character Death, F/F, F/M, Mute Frisk, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Rating Might Change, Reader Is Not Frisk, Right after Genocide, Sans might not actually like the reader, frisk and chara are genderless, has their own body tho, monster racism, one year after pacifist, reader is a female, they have issues man, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-25 21:04:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7547217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiaki_nanami/pseuds/chiaki_nanami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You didn’t really remember how you died, it was all a fast, stomach turning whirl. But Chara remembered. Chara remembered everything. And now you’re suddenly back and they can’t bare to stay away from you. They can’t lose you again, and especially not to him. They’ll get you back. And this time, they have Frisk’s soul to do it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

You had been born in a beautiful village what seemed like decades ago. The meadows were green, and the flowers were yellow. Always yellow. Sunflowers as you recalled. They littered the fields and took over the hill tops. They seem so right under the sun and the way they tilted to a side when a slight wind hit them was majestic. Chara said you were stupid for thinking this way, they were just ‘dumb flowers’. But you thought they were pretty at the time. You were just a child and all these things made you star struck. 

You were fairly young and unfortunately your parents were poor. They could barely afford food from the market and making cloth just didn’t make ends meet when the fabric was poor quality. They had been looking to marry you off. You were eleven, it was high time you brought in money through a husband. And yet, many suitors refused. Your body was not fit for having children, and you didn’t have anything else in return to give them. Your parents couldn’t come up with a solution, things were going south fast. And then, they remembered. That young child you played with so often. They recalled their family name. They weren’t startling rich, but they were better off than you all, and surely their parents wouldn’t ask for anything in return?

It turned out your parents were right. Chara’s family was more than delighted to have you as a member. But they insisted you both were far too young to marry now. So both families settled for a promise that would only strengthen the bond between you and Chara.

“What are you doing?” Chara asked, they were miffed it seemed. They had missed lunch to come searching for you when you didn’t show up, and had found you looking through the field of sunflowers. Again.

“Looking at the flowers,” you replied simply, picking one and smelling it. It didn’t really give off a distinct smell such as, say a rose would, but you loved it nonetheless. 

“I know that idiot,” Chara huffed angrily, “But why? And why now? It’s lunch time and I’m starving!”

You rose and giggled when you heard the rumbling coming from Chara’s stomach. They looked away, clearly embarrassed as their already rosy cheeks turned dark red. 

“I was thinking too,” you answered

“Of?”

“Memories,”

You smiled at Chara, placing the sunflower behind their ear as they looked away in embarrassment. This only helped fuel your laughter as you ran off to hopefully get some lunch. Grinning from ear to ear as Chara yelled after you, their footsteps close behind.


	2. Prologue: Death's Sunflower

When you had died your village had been under attack. The enemy was unknown, but they came from all angles. Burning down houses, killing farm animals and attacking other people. The night was set alight, as if the sun had already risen, with harsh red and orange colors. They ate up the forest surrounding the village, licking at the darkness as birds scurried away in fear. It was almost beautiful, the way the colors contrasted with the black and blue of night. If it had been silent, Chara would have considered it so.

But that had not been the case. People were screaming, children were crying, and men grunted as they tried their best to hold their own. Chara didn’t have time for these people, not a single one of them. They were looking for you. Where were you? They kept asking themself this as they ran across the village, their face ashy, eyes welling up with tears as the holes in their shirt made the flames lap at their tempting skin. They’d curse under their breath, ‘that fucking hurts’. But they didn’t have time to feel bad about it. They had to find you.

All at once, the hairs on their neck stood up, their frame became rigid when they heard your shrill screech in the air. That had to be you, right? No one else sounded like that, but...you. This moment brought them back as they ran to the sound of the scream. Chara panted, it felt like their heart would jump out of their chest and attack them for all this trouble they were going through. ‘All this for a stupid girl?’ they felt it say, ‘Stupid girl, stupid girl..’ 

But you were not stupid, and you were not just any girl. You were theirs. And they’d be damned if they couldn’t find you through thick and thin. They rounded a corner of a burning house, coming to a skid and bit their lip as the skin on the bottom of their foot began to burn. Chara looked up, eyes horrified and wide as their legs began to shake. They had found you alright, but they didn’t find you alive.

There were about three men, tall and bulky, cornering your lifeless body as it burned and filled the air with smoke. Your hair had been cut off before hand, and one of the men held it in their hands, while another held a knife that was clearly stained with your blood. It glistened under the moon, and Chara watched as a bead of it rolled down the blade and onto the already blooded floor. It seemed as if nothing would remain of your body as it slowly emitted more flames into the sky. Chara couldn’t keep from staring. That is, until they vomited over the ground. This alerted the men, who now, seemed bored with your lifeless body and turned to your friend. They put on sickeningly sweet smiles as they attempted to lure the broken child to them. Chara shook, terrified and enraged all at the same time, but their body decided to flee instead of fight. They ran with every muscle their body had, hearing the hollering of the men after them, as they gave chase. They sounded happy. As if this was all a game to them. 

The tears Chara had been holding back, had return, rolling down their soot covered faces. It made clear track marks as they heaved back a sob. They had to make it out of this, for you at least. They didn’t dare to look back, passing the burning forests as the fire dared to touch them. They stopped when their legs seemed ready to give out, panting and looking up as the blue sky seemed to start to brighten up. Dawn was approaching quickly. But the attackers had yet to give up. They could hear them hollering for them, and they knew they had to keep going. But they had been in this forest before, despite their parents warning. They had said, ‘if you keep going furthur into the forest and up Mt. Ebott you’ll fall down a hole there, and once people fall in, they never come out’. 

These were all just stories, legends the people had said to keep children from wandering out so far. Well, now was the time to prove these legends false, Chara thought. They ran up the mountain, climbing and grabbing onto whatever rock laid out on the grassy view ahead of them, until they came before that very hole. And their eyes widened. It was deep and vast, darkness holding onto it so harshly, that they couldn’t even see the bottom. 

“No one can survive a fall like this-” Chara gasped as a hand behind them rudely pushed them into the hole, their back turning to the fall as they saw the men laughing whole heartedly above them, a knife being thrown in after, hopefully to finish the job if the landing didn’t.

Humans were so cruel, thought Chara. Humanity was so cruel, and Chara never wanted to return. But then again, if they didn’t return, how would they plot revenge on the humans that had hurt them. Had hurt you?

And as they fell, face first to the oncoming flowers, Chara smiled. 

“Hey, are you okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (o l ‿ l o)


	3. Pasta Mistakes

 It was a busy day, as to be expected, it was Saturday and everyone was crammed into the grocery store in an attempt to stock up for the up coming week. And you of all people, had been called in today to fill in for your "sick" co-worker.  
  
 Now you didn't complain (at first), it just meant more money in your next paycheck. But as you started to see the lines fill all the way to the back of the next isle, your hands started to sweat a bit as you chimed in items and tallied up receipts.  
  
 It didn't help that it was the middle of July and you were sweating so much that you felt it down your back.  
  
'Ew', you thought, 'I really shouldn't be thinking back to that when I have three hours left in here'  
  
You looked up and became startled, as more and more people began to avoid your line. Did you really smell that bad?  
  
 And then someone caught your intrest. A skeleton. But not just one of them, two!  
  
They were both clearly monsters, and this bought you back to the day, almost a year ago, when the monsters had come up from Mt. Ebott and all hell broke loose. People were scared, sure, but most of all mystified, and completely shocked that they had been lead up by a child.  
  
 This child's name you recalled, was Frisk. You didn't quiet catch their last name, but they had been made ambassador of all monsters and was now still fighting for monsters rights. But unfortunately monster racism had now surfaced and monsters found it hard to do day-to-day things without being harrassed.  
  
 You loved monsters. A few of your next door neighbors were monsters (a very blind dog and a Whimsum, as you recalled) and they were the sweetest people you've ever met! Unfortunately, your state didn't enforce strict non-harrasment or judgmental laws to protect your friends and neighbors, so you always heard new stories of a monster getting mugged or their house getting wrecked. Certain places even banned their employees from serving them! It was completely crazy!  
  
 You blinked harshly as the skeleton in front of you began to snap their fingers in your direction. You came to notice that the one that was snapping his fingers at you was much shorter then the one next to him. The shorter one wore a lazy smile on his face, with deep hallowed eyes that held a white pinprick in each. These pins seem to glow lightly, making him seem much more alive for a skeleton. The taller one was about the same, except his head was longer and thinner in a way. He wore some white shorts and a white shirt with the words 'cool dude' scribbled hastily in black sharpie. The smaller one had on some black shorts, with a grey shirt underneath a blue hoodie.  
  
"sorry to snap you out of dream land buddy, but tiba honest, I was getting tired of waiting," announced the smaller skeleton.  
  
 "R-Right, sorry," you stuttered and began to check in their items.  
  
 "Wowie! Human, you and many of your friends have the same red armor! That is my favorite color!" shouted the taller skeleton, as more customers began to avoid your line.  
  
You raised an eyebrow. You didn't have on any armor. Not that you were aware of. You looked down at your red polo shirt and realized he must have been talking about your work shirt that you and many of your co-workers wore with the company logo on the front. Now that you noticed, you saw he had two basketballs concealing both of his shoulders. That must have been his armour then.  
  
 "T-Thanks," you stuttered again, feeling heat rush to your cheeks at the complement, checking in their items a bit faster now.  
  
 And then all at once, as you grabbed the next item, which seemed to be a box if pasta (the first of what seemed like many), the box broke from the bottom, sending all of its contents crashing to the floor in heaps of a mess.  
  
 "I'm so sorry sir-" you began to apologize as the bigger skeleton wailed and looked in grief, the smaller one shrugged,  
  
 "to pastel you the truth, it's alright-"  
  
 "Did you see that?!"  
  
 "He did it on purpose! He's probably trying to get her fired"  
  
 "Damn monsters, first they take our jobs and now they're trying to waste food!"  
  
"They probably couldn't eat it anyway, it'd go right through them!"  
  
 You heard the chatter of other shoppers soon grow into a riot, as they bustled about, trying to defend you while also insulting the two skeletons.  
  
 You noticed how the taller one looked like he wanted to shrink down and hide, while the smaller one was literally shaking. You could feel the heat radiating off of his body. And yet he still looked as calm as ever.  
  
 "What's going on here?" called out your boss, as he entered the checking out area with two security guards, looking around and flinching when people hollered at him left and right, but they all pointed at you.  
  
 "What's going on here (L/N)?" he looked at tiredly, while you were here only a few hours, he was here day and night.  
  
 "He did something to that box of pasta and made a mess!" shrieked a lady, pointing an accusing finger at the skeletons.  
  
 "It's uh, just a box of pasta ma'am," said your boss with an annoyed expression.  
  
 Now your boss wasn't one to sass customers, but he wasn't a people pleaser either. He knew how racist humans were against the monsters, but he thought they brought in good business. They came in and were very fascinated to buy human food, that they'd buy anything that would fit in their cart. Not to mention if some humans left the market, the monsters would easily come and replace them and thensome. Not to say that that was the only reason he accepted them, he was dating a cute fire elemental.  
  
 You were surprised no thugs had come up to graffiti the place with something awful like, 'monster fucker' or whatever, but some people didn't know and some people refused to mess with your boss. He was over six feet tall and looked like he could kill ten men by smashing their heads together.  
  
 Anyway, customers began to complain that it was more than just the food, soon they would go after the children and blah, blah, blah.  
  
 "Is this true?" asked your boss, more towards you then the skeletons.  
  
"No sir, it was my fault...I uh, couldn't get the pasta to scan so I messed around with it and it must have popped open" you explain hastily, growing anxious as the customers began to raise in volume again.  
  
"Alright," stated your boss. That was a good enough of answer for him, "It's coming off your paycheck, good day everyone!"  
  
 You watched as your boss walked off, leaving you miffed but other customers silent, as they went back to what they were doing but not without some hushed whispers.  
  
 "you didn't have to do that," you heard the smaller skeleton say. They had been quiet the whole time and now that you noticed, the white pinpricks from their eye sockets were gone.  
  
 "I don't mind sir," you responded, before excusing yourself to get another box of pasta.  
  
  
  
   
When you had finally gotten out of work, you were feeling as sore as ever. Your boss had pulled you out of the cashier line to have a little talk about 'messing with the merchandise'. You weren't in big trouble or anything, just that it would come off your paycheck like he said before. You didn't really mind that much, the box was about 6 or 7 dollars (it was pretty big) but hey, what can you do?  
  
"boo,"  
   
 You sure that if you weren't so scared, you would have screamed. You quickly spun around to see the same small skeleton from earlier looking up at you.  
  
 "geez buddy, don't jump too high or you'll jump out of ya skin. wouldn't want you to get all boney like me,"  
  
 You had just realized that the whole time he had been talking to you earlier, he had been saying puns. You would have cringed, had you not thought they were just the tiniest bit funny.  
  
 "what? do my jokes not tickle your funny bone?" he said, in response to your silence.  
  
 You giggled lightly, smiling before looking down as he held out a twenty to you.  
  
 "here. for the, uh, pasta earlier," he said, scratching the back of his head, "my brother and I were fooling around with the pasta, so it's uh, our fault,"  
  
You huffed, that was more then what the box cost! And you wanted to be nice!  
  
"No, it's okay. I wanted to help out,"  
  
   
"we're uh, not a charity case you know,"  
  
 "Neither am I,"  
  
 You both stared at each other for a while. You didn't mean for that to sound rude or anything, but you were really being nice. Not to mention you wanted to stand up against those disgusting racists.  
  
 "you're impastable, you know that?" joked the skeleton, putting the money in his pocket, as his cheeks turned a light blue color.  
  
 Was...was that his equivalent to blushing?  
  
 You were jolted out of your thoughts when he patted your lower back. It didn't feel creepy or anything like that, you liked the feel of his boney fingers against your thin shirt. It felt new, it felt exciting.  
  
" well uh, thanks for that pal. i'll see you around?" he asked as he began to walk backwards as he headed off.  
  
 You nodded as you waved him off. Maybe today hadn't been all that bad.  
  
  
   
  
  
 Later that night as you began to take off your pants, you felt into the back pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. You fumed, until you found a hasty scribbled note inside with the name Sans, a phone number, and a hasty drawn skeleton.  
  
 You began to wonder, how long had he waited for you in that parking lot? Did he plan to give you this?  
  
 And most importantly...  
  
 How the hell did he get this in your back pocket without touching your ass?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is my first story on ao3, as well as my first time writing from a like, three year hiatus. chara won't be introduced until later chapters so look out for that! also if you want to send fanart, I'll probably cry so send it to tumblr: dansdimplefrown. i also wanted to introduce sans before i started the whole, 'update once a week' thing. love ya guys ♡


End file.
